A general trend in the different sectors of the electronics industry is that for each generation microprocessors, network processors, signal processors, ASICs and many other circuits show higher performance levels and require higher power. The most critical part of circuit board thermal design is now handling the Hot-Spots, in the form of fewer but hotter components.
Heat pipes are known to be a very good but expensive solution for handling heat transfer problems. The basic function of a heat pipe is that it moves heat from one place to another. In electronic systems heat pipes are used for transferring heat from a Hot Spot (such as a processor etc.) where the heat dissipation problem is hard to solve, and to a free space that can hold a large heat sink or is very near a fan. Heat pipes are now a mainstream technology used in most laptop computers and volume production has driven the price down. An ordinary heat pipe is now a standard product, available in several diameters and lengths from multiple manufacturers to a cost off less than a dollar. The cost can be expected to go down further in the near future as new manufacturing plants are set up and manufacturing volumes go up.
Until now, heat pipes have been a low volume niche technology for real high performance systems. They are now getting into the mainstream in the high volume segments. However, the problems with existing heat pipe design solutions are still the same as before, they are tailor-made for each design and they target optimal cooling efficiency rather than flexibility and ease of design.